EZRA LEVANT ｜ Should Canada go to war in Ukraine？ Against Russia？ Should we punish Russian-Canadians in some way？
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Summary
Should Canada go to war in Ukraine against Russia? Should we punish Russian Canadians in some way? I ll take you through the latest big ideas from our leaders, and explain why I don t think so. And I ll also show you some old videos of the Ukrainian president, Vladimir Zelenko, who is quite a character.
Transcript
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Hello, my rebels. Today, I try and make sense of the plan that NATO and Canadian generals and
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American diplomats have for Ukraine. I'm trying to figure out what they want to do. I focus a bit
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on Rick Hillier, formerly Canada's top soldier, and his plan for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. I'll
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take you through it, and I'll also show you some old videos of the Ukrainian president, Vladimir
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Zelenko, who's quite a character. I'll show you some videos, and I'll ask you what you think we
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should do. So that's in today's show. Let me invite you to become a subscriber to Rebel News Plus. That's
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the video version. You really need it for today's show. I'm going to show you clips from a few movies
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that Zelenko did, including one called Servant of the People, where he played the president of
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Ukraine in a movie. By the way, he was also the voice of Paddington Bear for that movie in Ukraine.
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He's an interesting character. He won Dancing with the Stars 15 years ago. I don't know if you know
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that. I got some video footage of that. It was also an Iraq video. So I got a lot to show you. It's
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fine as a podcast, but you really ought to see it as a video. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, click
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subscribe. It's eight bucks a month. You get my show every day, plus weekly shows, four other ones that
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we put together. So do me a favor and do that, because by the way, we rely on that money. We don't take a
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dime from Trudeau. Just go to rebelnewsplus.com, get the video version. And especially today,
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you'll get a kick out of these old Zelensky videos that I found. All right, here's today's show.
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Tonight, should Canada go to war in Ukraine against Russia? Should we punish Russian Canadians in some
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way? I'll take you through the latest big ideas from our leaders. It's March 2nd, and this is the
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Why should others go to jail when you're a biggest carbon consumer I know?
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There's 8,500 customers here, and you won't give them an answer.
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The only thing I have to say to the government, the wire publisher, is because it's my bloody right to do so.
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Look, I'm against war. I think most people are, other than maybe arms dealers. I'm skeptical of
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Vladimir Putin. He's an authoritarian ruler who has suspended civil liberties in Russia and seeks to
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dominate Russia's neighbors to recreate an empire. He invaded the country of Georgia. He's invaded Ukraine
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several times, and he has eyes on other independent countries that were once part of the Warsaw Pact,
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sort of the Russian response to NATO. One of my main arguments in my books, First Ethical Oil,
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which was obviously about the oil sands, and my follow-up book called Groundswell,
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which was about fracking, mainly natural gas. One of my arguments was that for every barrel of oil or
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every cubic foot of natural gas that we produce here in Canada, that's one less that will be produced
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and sold by the world's bad actors, mainly OPEC dictatorships in Russia. I tell you that in case
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you somehow think that I support Vladimir Putin or his territorial ambitions. Of course, I don't.
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And of course, I don't like to see the reports out of Ukraine of violence and casualties, though it is
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very hard in the fog of war to trust reports, especially on social media. There are a lot of
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fakes. And by that, I mean propaganda from both the Ukraine side and the Russian side. For example,
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there are a lot of images from other wars that are being republished afresh, pretending to be images
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from this war. So you have to be very careful about rumors, I think. The Russian Ministry of Defense
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has said that it has had almost 500 deaths and 1,500 wounded Russian soldiers so far. It's a pretty
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heavy death toll, especially given the military advantages that Russia holds over Ukraine.
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The fact that the Russian government itself publishes these numbers means, I would think,
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that it is the minimum actual number. I don't know what the number on the Ukraine side would be,
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but that's a real war. The best way to win a war, of course, is to avoid it. In the first place,
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I note that Russia and Iran and China and North Korea didn't try any wars when Donald Trump was
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in office. Even the Taliban in Afghanistan were suppressed, even though Trump was working on an
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exit plan. I think it's incontrovertible that the sudden collapse of Afghanistan under Joe Biden
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and the Russian invasion of Ukraine and China's new saber rattling about Taiwan are all 100% attributable
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to having Joe Biden in office, whose policies of appeasement are disastrous in themselves.
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They invite America's enemies to take chances, to take liberties. But his obvious mental decline
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is just pitiful in the true meaning of that word. I mean, look at this from last night's State of the
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Union address. He calls Ukrainians, Iranians, people from Iran. As Kamala Harris mouths the right word,
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Putin may circle Kiev with tanks, but he'll never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people.
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He'll never extinguish our love of freedom. And he will never, never weaken the resolve of the free world.
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Yeah, there were way too many of those moments last night. Here's another one.
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It's time to see the what used to be called a rust belt become the home of a significant resurgence
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of manufacturing. And with all the bright spots in our economy.
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Does anyone actually think that Joe Biden is the one making the decisions in the White House?
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And if he's not, who is? Is it some committee? That's not the way to be decisive in dangerous
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times. Oh, and I'm pretty sure it's not Kamala Harris. This radio interview she gave is real.
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This is not a fake. If you're watching any level of news, even social media, you're seeing everything
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that's going on right now in the Ukraine. Break it down in layman's terms for people who don't
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understand what's going on and how can this directly affect the people of the United States?
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So Ukraine is a country in Europe. It exists next to another country called Russia. Russia is a bigger
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country. Russia is a powerful country. Russia decided to invade a smaller country called Ukraine.
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So basically that's wrong. But it's not just America's enemies that are filling the leadership
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void. Without America leading the free world's countries in a clear and compelling way,
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others are trying to fill the gap. Here's Canada's retired general, Rick Hilliard. I'm going to play
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an extended clip here. It's about two minutes long. Hilliard sounds very nice and very reasonable.
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And I can hear that touch of Newfoundland in his accent. The tone of his voice is wonderful,
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but listen to what he's actually saying so calmly. Now, this is a clip of him on the CBC,
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but he said the same things on CTV. And in neither place was he particularly challenged. Take a listen.
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The same in the army, you know, hey, shoot the 25-meter targets first. Worry about the stuff
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coming down the road later on. The sanctions may impact some of that coming down the road. They
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may not, but they may. But right now, they need weapon systems. They need ammo. They need long-range
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systems. And they need a no-fly zone over the Ukraine to allow them to operate, to defend their
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own country, and to be able to actually stand up to Putin and in negotiation say, hey, we'll accept
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the unconditional surrender of all the Russian soldiers in the Ukraine. And now, how can we get
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along in the future here? They can last inside of those built-up areas, but it is going to be
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brutal. And they can't last unless we give them better defensive support, better weapons, better,
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more ammunition, and better ammunition, and the kind of things that they need. But that no-fly zone,
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you know, I know NATO is a defensive organization, but hey, you don't start defense at your front door.
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NATO ran a war in Afghanistan. NATO tried to conduct operations in Afghanistan in August,
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did not do so well at that one. But you start your defense earlier than that. That no-fly zone,
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I posted about it, you know, a week ago. We should have been doing it. Putin might have had second
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sort of thoughts before he launched if we had done it. Okay, you've given us a lot to unpack there,
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because I do want to start on that very point that you're making around the no-fly zone, because
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I'm sure you've seen over the last number of days, the U.S. is getting tons of questions.
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We're, our government is getting questions. Our allies are getting questions. And the answer has
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been fairly similar across the table. No, that would be perceived as an escalatory move. And that
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would definitely ratchet up the war rather than de-escalate it. What is your response to, for
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example, the Canadian government, which today, you know, just unequivocally said, that's a no-go at
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this point for us? Hey, you know, we're not putting our actions where our mouth is. We're saying,
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well, Ukraine has resolved. We're there behind you. We've got the colors of the Ukraine on the
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P-Star. You know, something that's complete assistance short of real help. And what they
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need is a no-fly zone. What they need are weapons, and what they need are ammunition, is ammunition.
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And what they need are people to come and fill out that international brigade or brigades that they
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want to form also to actually fight the Russians that are on the ground right now, those 25-meter
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targets. Hey, this got escalated when Putin said he was going to invade and then did so. It got
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escalated when they attacked those infrastructure, those buildings where the civilians are. And it
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got escalated, or gets escalated every time there's a Russian tank fighting vehicle or soldier that
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crosses that border into the Ukraine and attacks and tries to kill somebody. You know, at some point
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in time, we're going to face Putin and the Russians over this one. And if we have any hope of ever
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getting Putin removed from power inside of Russia, the folks that are around him as cronies, I think
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back to 20 July 1944, when people around Hitler were going to do the same, I'm reminded of that
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when I see Putin sitting at that long table. You know, we've got to actually show some backbone in
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the West. I think Canada could lead the way in that one. We do need a no-fly zone. We have the
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technology. We have the forces. We have the capability to do it. And say very clearly to the Russian
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people, not just to Putin. Here's what we are doing, because we cannot accept what's occurring.
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There's a lot in there. If I'm hearing him right, he wants Canada to lead the attack
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on the Russian Air Force. Canada, I mean, I like Canada. I like it a lot. I was born here.
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We are very, very far away from Russia and Ukraine. And our Royal Canadian Air Force fighters,
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their CF-18 jets, which were first delivered to us in 1983. And then we bought some of Australia's
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used F-18s when they got rid of them because they were buying new jets. We were supposed to
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get new jets too, the modern F-35 jet. But Trudeau nixed that. So Rick Hillier wants to send our
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Canadian CF-18s, almost 40 years old. Next year's the 40th anniversary. And he wants to lead the battle
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into Ukraine to shoot down any Russian aircraft. That's what a no-fly zone means. No helicopters,
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no jets. With our CF-18s, I don't even know how they're going to get there.
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Take a look at these images here. These are actual Russian jets. Russia has some jets from
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the 80s still in its Air Force, MiG-29s they're called. But those are the oldest, the worst jets
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they have. They have many more modern planes, including jets that are meant to rival the latest
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American jets, the F-35, the F-22. I'm not trying to get technical here. I'm just saying
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it would be a suicidal errand for little Canada to try to take on the Russian Air Force.
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Just from a military point of view, a logistics point of view, Russia's right there. Canada's
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over here. You're not going to win. And the comments about that being in some sort of defensive move
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that NATO should adopt, how is sending Canadian jets into a war between two non-NATO countries,
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a defensive act that could possibly be justified by NATO's charter? You're going to take off from
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NATO airfields and attack Russia? And you don't think they're going to attack back? You know,
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there are other former Soviet colonies, thank God they've been liberated now, that have joined NATO,
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Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania. Do you know they're part of NATO now? One of Putin's
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complaints is that NATO is trying to encircle Russia. Of course, the response to that is NATO
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is defensive. Russia doesn't have anything to worry about if it doesn't attack them. These are
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all countries that Russia has dominated in the past. They have good reason to join a defensive
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alliance. But how is going in to positively make war against Russia in a non-NATO country like Ukraine,
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how is that possibly a NATO decision? And did you hear that part about regime change that General
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Hillier was talking about, about trying to topple Putin? Listen, I would much rather have a liberal
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Democrat running Russia too. I'm not sure how many of those there are, to be honest. Russia feels a bit
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like an oligarchy, basically run by a group of self-dealing billionaires who ring out the country for
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political power and wealth and make sure they keep the top dog Putin well compensated. I don't know,
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the closest analogy I can think of is the mafia. Putin is the Tony Soprano character. If you knock
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off the mob boss, you will get another mob boss to take his place. You're not going to find some
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John A. MacDonald or some George Washington waiting for his moment to usher in a new era of liberalism
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and freedom and civil society. Actually, I don't think Russia has ever had such a thing. Regime
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change, that's your goal? You know, that really hasn't worked out well where it's been tried before
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by NATO. Afghanistan, an obvious example. Iraq, Libya toppling Muammar Gaddafi. He was not a nice
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man, but look what he was replaced with. These examples come to mind that was done under Obama and
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Biden as vice president. Imagine trying to do that to Russia itself, the physically largest country in the
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world. One of the most populous, 150 million people. Rick Hillier has big plans for Russia. Maybe he'll be
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the governor of Russia. Oh, and then there's the small matter that Russia has nuclear weapons, just that.
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What's the plan here? If the decision is to punish Russia, to deter Russia, why isn't that being done through
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non-military means first? Why is the West still buying oil and gas from Russia? That was put to the strategic
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genius Kamala Harris today. Take a listen. Is that something that the administration would
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continue, would consider in terms of further sanctions, cutting off the oil and gas part of
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the economy for Russia? Well, as you know, that on this issue, for example, we applaud Germany in terms
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of what it has done as it relates to Nord Stream 2, as it relates to what we need to do domestically,
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as well as what we need to do in terms of this issue generally. We have, as the president said,
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re-evaluated what we're doing in terms of the strategic oil reserve here in the United States to make sure
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that it will not have an impact or we can mitigate the impact on the American consumer. But let's take this
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one step at a time, understanding that right now, on the issue of energy, our allies have stood firm
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and unified in a way that many of the pundits didn't predict would happen to ensure that we are
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unified in our approach to this issue. Yeah, I don't think she answered the question, did she?
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Now, look, I sympathize with Ukraine. I oppose Russia. But before we send in our CF-18s to start
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World War III, shouldn't we, you know, try all peaceful means first? If you're literally buying
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a billion dollars of Russian oil every day, plus the same amount in natural gas, maybe you're not
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really serious about stopping Russia if you're their number one customer. What's this about?
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Is it about some sort of new world order? Is it about changing the subject in the world from the
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pandemic? I don't know. I honestly don't know what's going on. I like that Ukrainian president,
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Vladimir Zelensky. I like how he has not fled his country as the U.S. installed Afghan leaders fled
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immediately. I like that Zelensky seems to be a patriot, but I also know that he's a professional
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actor. Here he is in a movie just a few years ago playing the president of Ukraine.
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Hello. Good morning, Mr. Koloborovko. Can I connect you with Angela Merkel? Yes, you can
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connect. Hello. My congratulations. We decided to take your country to the European Union.
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Oh, fuck! Oh, I'm sorry. Oh, wow. Oh, you know, I'm so happy. Yes. Oh, thank you very much.
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All the Ukrainians and all of our country. We've been waiting for this so much time.
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Ukrainians? Yes, Ukrainians. Oh, I'm so sorry. That's a mistake. I was calling to Montenegro.
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Montenegro. I see. Okay. Yeah, my congratulations. Yes, to Montenegro. Bye-bye.
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Fuck! Here's another clip from that movie called Servant of the People, where he breaks
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up a quarrel in the Ukrainian legislature by shouting that Putin has been toppled.
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I'm not saying that actors can't be good leaders. One of the greatest US
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presidents of all time was Ronald Reagan, who was an actor in his younger years. But even as an actor,
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he had a clear philosophy. He wasn't an actor for very long. He achieved real political things in
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his life. He became the governor of California, the biggest state in the union, on a clear
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conservative platform. Here's Zelensky just being an actor, dancer, performer.
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That makes me a little bit nervous. I'll be honest. He clearly would read any script in front of him.
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Look, I'm on Ukraine's side. I don't like to see countries devouring other countries.
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The Russian pretext for the invasion is so obviously just a cover-up for Putin's imperialism.
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I don't like the reports of casualties on any side, frankly, but especially civilians in Ukraine.
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I don't like Putin, a former KGB agent trying to revive the Soviet empire.
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And I think I naturally sympathize with a smaller country being beat up by a bigger country.
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But would you truly send in Canadian fighter pilots and their support crews
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to a war in that place right now? Rick Hillier would. Would you? I think there's a madness afoot.
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People are pouring out Russian-themed vodka into the sink, even if they're made in Latvia like
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Stolichnia. It's got a Russian name. It's made in Latvia, which is actually a NATO country. Seems a bit
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indiscriminate. And like I say, it seems a bit of a placebo. If the West is still buying a billion
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dollars of oil a day, plus however much gas a day, I just don't believe it. I mean, I get the need for
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an enemy. We've seen two years of demonizing unvaccinated people. Hate is a powerful emotion.
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Justin Trudeau has used it a lot lately. Look at this guy. This is Barack Obama's ambassador to
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Russia. So Joe Biden was VP. Listen to what he said. He said, there are no more innocent,
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neutral Russians anymore. Everyone has to make a choice, support or oppose this war.
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The only way to end this war is if hundreds of thousands, not thousands,
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protest against the senseless war. Putin can't arrest you all. All right. Well, Russia, it's a
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nationality. It's a legal geography. It's a citizenship. I think it's an ethnicity too,
00:22:05.900
although there's many minorities in Russia. To say that Russian civilians, ordinary people who
00:22:12.220
were born in a place, are guilty because they're not actively renouncing their country
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or whatever this guy is telling them to do, that's insane. And does he mean Russians in Russia only or
00:22:24.300
Russians elsewhere? You know, there's about 700,000 Canadians who answered in the last census that
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they're Russian. Are they enemies too? Should we, I don't know, dust off the internment camps we used
00:22:38.060
for the Japanese Canadians 80 years ago? Should we do that again? What if you're half Russian and
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half Ukrainian? Are you a good person or a bad person? What if you're a Russian living in Ukraine
00:22:50.480
or ethnically Russian in Ukraine? Does it depend on how you vote? Look, I hate to watch this war. I hate
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the video images of death and destruction. And that's why they're being served up because
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they're, they're so emotionally evocative. I can also detect propaganda. A lot of it. Did you see
00:23:07.160
this reporter grill British prime minister Boris Johnson the other day? Wouldn't surprise me if
00:23:12.440
the, if you saw it, a lot of people did. Uh, a woman, uh, from, uh, my team is now in Vila
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Tzerkva and she is there with two kids and, uh, Russian military is over there and she's so much
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afraid that she will be shot. Harkiv, the city where I was studying was bombarded today fully the
00:23:34.360
downtown square. So you're talking about the stoicism of Ukrainian people, but Ukrainian women and
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Ukrainian children are in deep fear because of bombs and missiles, which are going from the sky
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and Ukrainian people are desperately asking for the best to protect our sky. We are asking for the
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no-fly zone. We are saying response that it will trigger world war three, but what is the alternative,
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Mr. Prime Minister to observe how our children are instead of, instead of, uh, planes are protecting
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NATO from their missiles and bombs. What's the alternative for the no-fly zone? We have planes here. We
00:24:11.560
have air defense system in Poland, in Romania. NATO has this air defense. At least this air defense
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could shield the western Ukraine. So this, these children with women could come to the border. It's
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impossible now to cross the border. There are 30 kilometers of lines. Imagine crossing the border with a
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baby or with two children. I'm so glad that Samantha Power is coming here to the border from the Polish side.
00:24:37.000
Let her come to the border from Ukrainian side and see that. Britain guaranteed our security
00:24:42.920
under Budapest memorandum. So you're coming to Poland. You're not coming to Kiev, Prime Minister.
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You're not coming to Lviv because you are afraid, because NATO is not willing to defend, because NATO is
00:24:54.760
afraid of the World War Three, but it is already started. And these are Ukrainian children who are there
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taking the heat. You're talking about more sanctions, Prime Minister, but Roman Abramovich is not sanctioned.
00:25:05.640
He's in London. His children are not in the bombardments. His children are there in London.
00:25:12.600
Putin's children are in Netherlands, in Germany, in mansions. Where are all these mansions seized?
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I don't see that. I see that my family members, that my team members are saying that we are crying.
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We don't care what to rob. This is what is happening, Prime Minister. Incredibly powerful moment at Boris Johnson's
00:25:35.000
press conference in Poland. That's what the tweet says. So that one video I showed you had nearly
00:25:39.960
nine million views on Twitter alone. Very powerful. Who was that woman? Obviously a reporter. Since it
00:25:46.840
was at a press conference, those are for reporters. It was this lady here, just had a chance to ask a
00:25:53.640
question to Boris Johnson. Her name is Daria Kalinyak. So who's she a reporter with? You ever heard her
00:26:00.600
before? Well, well, here's her Twitter biography. Her banner says, Stop Putin-Hitler now. NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine.
00:26:10.520
So maybe she's not actually a reporter then, is she? Even though she was asking questions at a press
00:26:17.160
conference like a reporter and was widely described as a reporter. Her Twitter bio has a link to this,
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the Anti-Corruption Action Center. She's the executive director of the place. So it's a lobby group.
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And look at the website under funding. The number one source of her funding is the US government.
00:26:42.600
And the number two source is European Union governments. Now, I'm not a detective. I just
00:26:47.000
clicked on a few links. That was not a reporter. That was a US funded activist pressing Boris Johnson
00:26:56.280
of NATO to declare World War Three or something. What on earth is going on here?
00:27:00.600
I'm uncomfortable with all this. It feels like that old movie, Wag the Dog. I don't deny there is a real war.
00:27:07.720
And I don't deny that Putin is a malign force. I wrote about it in two of my books.
00:27:12.280
But you'll forgive me if I don't sign on to World War Three with old generals who missed the action
00:27:19.880
and old diplomats with personal grudges. And I think I've learned to be skeptical of political leaders
00:27:25.960
who can immediately change into anything, like a chameleon, depending what script is put in front
00:27:32.440
of them. People who can be anything to anyone. Actors who will read any script in front of them,
00:27:39.160
any teleprompter. We Canadians know a bit about that, don't we?
00:27:43.400
By the way, I have accepted a staff appointment with a promotion.
00:27:47.640
Captain Papineau is leaving us. But we hope not for long.
00:27:57.640
I have no idea I was so bound by ties of affection to the regiment until I came to leave it.
00:28:18.360
Yeah, I'm rooting for Ukraine, but I wouldn't want any Canadians to fight and die there.
00:28:24.280
Or to start World War Three. Stay with us for more.
00:28:59.320
A woman that has been hauled back across the police lines,
00:29:03.160
there's a handbag, and lots of people filming, which we've seen right throughout
00:29:08.440
Yeah, you can see a man just falling to the ground.
00:29:11.000
Joining us now via Skype from Australia is our chief correspondent there, Avi Yamini.
00:29:16.680
Avi, great to see you. Tell us what you can. I know you're not in New Zealand, but of course,
00:29:22.120
Australia is the closest country to New Zealand. You know a lot about New Zealand's prime minister,
00:29:26.920
the extreme authoritarian Jacinda Ardern. Can you give us a little background on this protest
00:29:33.400
at the capital? Because I know that New Zealanders are finally waking up. They have this
00:29:37.080
high court ruling against the mandate. So I felt like there was a flicker of hope. What just happened?
00:29:44.200
Yeah, Ezra. So actually, they're inspired by you guys in Canada. That is still the convoy
00:29:50.280
to the capital that are camped outside parliament. And yeah, it would seem as if
00:29:58.280
Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand has been inspired by Trudeau. And I think she's also using
00:30:04.600
the cover of what's happening in Ukraine, between Russia and Ukraine at the moment to distract.
00:30:10.840
So nobody notices while she's pointing the finger at Putin. She's busy knocking out, you know,
00:30:17.960
senior citizens who are daring to voice their opposition to these mandates.
00:30:24.120
So is there some sort of martial law in New Zealand? Is there some heightened
00:30:29.480
emergency status or was this just police deciding they were going to thump a few skulls?
00:30:34.360
I think that this is the enforcement against the convoy there where it's been ongoing,
00:30:42.280
you know, even since you guys, when the Canadians' convoy kind of packed up,
00:30:50.520
they kept going in New Zealand. So they've had a few confrontations there. And it seems like
00:30:55.720
they're growing there as well with a large group of the indigenous, the Maori community,
00:31:03.800
which have gotten involved as well. So I think in New Zealand, there is a big shift because people
00:31:10.840
are waking up to the idea that New Zealand has been, if not the place most on our planet that has
00:31:21.800
enforced the COVID restrictions to the highest degree, you know, it's still impossible to get
00:31:27.640
into New Zealand. They're starting to lift them slowly. But I think people in New Zealand are starting
00:31:33.320
to recognise that they've been through all of this in the last two years. And now they're being told,
00:31:38.840
even when they've been good little citizens that have followed every single rule, now the virus is
00:31:46.520
arriving because even with all of that, it still manages to get in. And so they've realised that
00:31:55.000
now they've lost their jobs for something that just makes no more sense to them anymore.
00:32:00.440
Yeah, that was the one country in the world where they tried to have the zero COVID approach,
00:32:05.080
not a single case. And I guess theoretically, I mean, New Zealand is quite remote,
00:32:10.200
but you would have to have a 100 percent seal that place off. And I understand that New Zealand's
00:32:18.200
actually setting records for the number of cases. You just can't stop it. I think it's powerful when
00:32:23.320
you mention that the Maoris are against it because Jacinda Ardern is nothing if not woke. So, I mean,
00:32:30.440
she's a woman, she's a socialist. She has all these cards she can play, but she can't really play the
00:32:37.160
cards when it's a group of Maori folks, the indigenous folks of New Zealand. I find that
00:32:42.760
very interesting. I also think it's interesting that you say they're inspired by Canada. I know
00:32:47.880
the same thing happened in Canberra, the capital of Australia, right? There was a convoy there too.
00:32:53.880
Absolutely. And there's still a little thing there and they have a big, I believe, a big protest.
00:32:59.800
They've had one of the largest protests in the country. Well, certainly in our capital and
00:33:04.760
outside parliament in history, but they have another one planned for next month. There's
00:33:09.240
still a small group that have stayed there, even as they've been kicked out of campsite to campsite.
00:33:16.680
So there is still something happening here. But it's important to know that in New Zealand,
00:33:22.040
Jacinda Ardern was quite popular, very popular, even within the Maori community. And I think
00:33:27.960
the silver lining to COVID or one of them from the last two years is it's woken up a lot of these
00:33:35.400
communities to the woke ideology and to wokeism and to people like Jacinda Ardern and to expose how
00:33:42.920
dangerous they really can be. Because I even noticed here in Australia, we have a large Maori community
00:33:49.320
here. And one of the things that I noticed early on was how many of them were at our protests. And
00:33:56.440
were talking to me about, oh my gosh, I can't believe that my brothers, sisters, my cousins in
00:34:01.720
New Zealand don't get it yet. And now we're slowly seeing that shift. And unfortunately, I think we'll
00:34:10.360
see still a bit more to come in New Zealand. I don't think it's over yet, but we hope for them,
00:34:19.320
And how are things in Australia? You're in the most
00:34:22.440
lockdown scene in Australia, Melbourne, which is the big city in the state of Victoria.
00:34:28.120
I've learned a lot about Australia from you. Of course, just an atrocious
00:34:35.960
head of Victoria, Dan Andrews is his name. It didn't surprise me to learn that there was net
00:34:41.480
out migration from Victoria, the same way there's been people in America moving out of California,
00:34:47.400
New York, to Texas and Florida, away from the lockdown states to the free states.
00:34:53.800
Tell me how things are in Australia now. Has Dan Andrews of Victoria taken his foot off of people's
00:35:00.200
neck? Has the prime minister gotten more lenient? Or, I mean, I remember they crushed the tennis
00:35:08.600
player, Djokovic, who came in lawfully on Vax. It was a last spasm of madness. What's it like today?
00:35:15.480
Well, today we still have all these mandates in place, but it's certainly you've got to remember
00:35:21.560
it's an election year here and nowhere in the world. I think at this point, maybe you can argue
00:35:27.880
during the US elections, while there was still a large part of the population that were very nervous
00:35:34.040
of the virus, that that may have supported the most popular president in history. But I think here,
00:35:42.200
it's important to know it is an election year. And if you look at polling, lockdowns and restrictions,
00:35:47.480
they don't poll well. So I think everyone's kind of loosening up a little bit, but we still certainly
00:35:53.400
have mandates. I don't know why people are running away. We just lit up the town in the Ukrainian flag
00:35:59.800
colours. We are such a good people here in Melbourne, so virtuous. So I don't know why anyone would want to
00:36:06.440
leave such a place. At the end of the day, I didn't see, if you watched the footage of how Putin was
00:36:15.160
treating their anti-war protesters, and no matter which side you stand in this debate, but the way
00:36:21.800
he treated his anti-war protesters was nothing like what we saw here in Melbourne or there in Ottawa.
00:36:28.360
So and what we're seeing today in New Zealand, I think it's important to note because we pretend to be the
00:36:34.200
good guys all the time. But I think COVID has exposed our governments at least for the hypocrites that they
00:36:41.800
absolutely are. Yeah, I think you're right. I haven't seen Putin deploy riot horses against peaceful
00:36:48.840
protesters in Moscow. I've seen that done by Trudeau in Ottawa. Literally today, Tamara Litch, one of the
00:36:56.440
organizers of the trucker convoy, is trying for the second time to get bail. She's been held in
00:37:01.800
prison for almost two weeks. Peaceful protesters, as she said, hold the line, two weeks in prison.
00:37:08.440
I don't know. I think it's a little bit hard for countries like Australia, New Zealand and Canada
00:37:13.640
to take the moral high ground now. And you see that. I mean, the Russian embassy, the China,
00:37:19.240
the Chinese embassy, they're sort of mocking the lockdowns in the West, and they were mocking Trudeau.
00:37:24.040
And fair enough. I mean, obviously, I don't think Canada is as bad as China. It's not,
00:37:28.920
or as bad as Russia. But it's a little bit tough to play morally righteous when you've just shown
00:37:34.280
how brutal you can be against your peaceful protesters. Well, Avi, keep it up down there.
00:37:38.040
Keep an eye peeled on New Zealand. I know it's a whole different place. It's actually hours away
00:37:42.440
by plane, even. But keep us posted on that because Jacinda Ardern is a real menace.
00:37:47.880
We have a more comprehensive report coming out today, rebelnews.com.au,
00:37:52.760
for people to follow. All right. We'll make sure to take a look at that. Avi Amini,
00:37:56.360
great to see you. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Ezra.
00:37:59.080
There you have it. Our chief Australian correspondent. Stay with us. Your letters to me next.
00:38:03.480
Hey, welcome back. Your viewer feedback. Trish DeBoer says,
00:38:18.840
what's going on with Tamara Lich? Well, thank you for asking. I'm answering you at just before four
00:38:25.960
o'clock p.m., and there is no result in her bail review. So just a quick recap for those who might
00:38:34.280
not know what we're talking about. Tamara Lich is the Métis woman from Medicine Hat, Alberta,
00:38:38.600
who really got the excitement building for the trucker convoy. She's the one who created the first
00:38:44.120
GoFundMe account. She's not a trucker herself, but she really was its encourager along the way.
00:38:49.960
She was arrested on the streets at night in Ottawa, thrown in jail, and charged with inciting mischief
00:39:00.920
because she said, hold the line, which is just like a generic saying. That was called inciting
00:39:07.320
mischief. And she was denied bail two weeks ago by a judge who had campaigned for the Liberal Party
00:39:14.600
of Canada in a recent election. Trudeau stumped for her. So it was just a shocking. Have you ever
00:39:20.840
heard of someone being denied bail for the crime of inciting mischief? Not even for committing
00:39:25.560
mischief, just encouraging others. Murderers get bail. So today, literally today, was her appeal of that.
00:39:33.800
And as of 20 minutes ago when I last checked, the results of that appeal were not yet known. They
00:39:40.280
might not be known until tomorrow. The judge isn't ruled is what I mean. Incredibly, Tamera Litch was
00:39:45.320
brought into the courtroom in shackles, in ankle shackles and handcuffs as if she were a murderer.
00:39:56.840
She's a political prisoner. It is a disgrace to the justice system that she's in prison still.
00:40:03.000
That's the update. Someone with the nickname 250 Sabres says,
00:40:08.120
Jacinda Ardern is a crazy communist and has been since she was in her late teens.
00:40:12.680
She even wore a communist uniform. It was also unbelievable and sick. Just an authoritarian
00:40:17.160
woman with no path for her country. I know a little bit about her and she indeed was the president of the
00:40:22.120
Socialist International. She really is a communist. And I know you're not saying that as an insult,
00:40:27.080
but rather as a description. I think she is doing atrocious things. And I don't know what it is
00:40:33.800
about commonwealth countries, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. We have had terrible police and terrible
00:40:41.880
authoritarianism put upon us by our leaders. I think Jacinda Ardern has been atrocious. But what's the
00:40:49.880
excuse for Scott Morrison, the prime minister of Australia, or the provincial premiers of Canada,
00:40:55.480
some of whom actually call themselves conservative? I think there's something wrong in our society.
00:41:00.360
There's been no checks and balances, although I'll give New Zealand credit for this.
00:41:03.720
Their high court struck down the mandates. Our Supreme Court has not.
00:41:08.680
Someone with the nickname Church says this cannot be done until the politicians, unionized bureaucrats,
00:41:14.200
and cops are publicly held to account for their blatant intentional abuse of individual rights for
00:41:20.280
the last two years. Well, I don't know how you're going to get that kind of system-wide
00:41:23.800
accountability. Because what are you going to do? Replace one party with another one? Like,
00:41:27.080
take the example of the government of Alberta. Jason Kenney, who's imprisoning a Christian pastor
00:41:32.920
right now, Arthur Pawlowski. What are you going to do? You're going to replace him with
00:41:37.000
the NDP? How about in Ontario? You're going to replace Doug Ford with the Liberal Party
00:41:41.640
that's even worse? The entire system was proved rotten. The courts, the media, academia,
00:41:48.920
colleges of physicians and surgeons, every police force you can name. I don't even know how you
00:41:54.120
replace one crooked set with another. I don't even know what to do.
00:41:58.840
My friends, that's our show for today. Until tomorrow, on behalf of all of us here at Rebel
00:42:02.520
World Headquarters, to you at home, good night. Keep fighting for freedom. And let me leave you with
00:42:06.200
a video of the day. Our friend Efrain Monsanto, who met with Ukrainian supporters in Toronto who believe
00:42:13.160
in sanctioning Russian oil. Here's his video. See you later.
00:42:17.320
Hey, I'm Efrain Monsanto, a video journalist covering protests for Rebel News. This past
00:42:21.480
weekend, on my way to Toronto's weekly freedom rally that takes place at Queens Park every Saturday,
00:42:26.200
I came across a large crowd of Canadian Ukrainians and supporters outside the U.S. consulate.
00:42:31.640
Canada has the highest Ukrainian population outside of their own country in Russia, with over 1.3
00:42:36.440
million across the nation. That's why when Putin invaded Ukraine last week,
00:42:40.520
it personally affected the families of many Canadians. Canada takes over $600 million of
00:42:47.080
Russian oil every single year, but yet we suppress our own ethical oil coming from the West through
00:42:52.200
cancellation of pipelines, the federal carbon tax, and more. Even America has been the same.
00:42:58.120
In 2021, President Joe Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline, increasing their reliance on Russian oil.
00:43:04.120
Sign our petition at buildkeystonexl.com. If you agree that it's in both our countries' interests
00:43:08.840
to build a pipeline and not rely on foreign influence for our energy demands.
00:43:13.960
I asked the protesters what their thoughts were on Putin's vision of Ukraine, what can Canada do more,
00:43:19.480
and should we stop importing Russian oil as part of our sanctions? Take a listen.
00:43:24.440
So we are trying to get more involvement of the U.S. government into the Ukrainian situation,
00:43:32.040
because nothing is happening. People are just talking and we need real help from the world,
00:43:37.240
because our guys are dying there and no one is helping us. So we are feeling a little bit betrayed.
00:43:43.000
So we are trying to make the U.S. government to do something and support us in this fight
00:43:47.800
for the peace in the whole world. It's not just about Ukraine, it's about the whole world,
00:43:54.200
Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop the war! Stop the war!
00:43:59.480
I love the airplane and the Russian soldier is killed for Ukrainian people, civil people.
00:44:04.920
This bombing has a shelter, bombing is a hospital. This bombing is killed as a people.
00:44:11.960
Putin will. Slava Ukraine. Slava Nazis. Smert war.
00:44:14.840
We are fighting for the freedom, fighting for the freedom of Europe, for democracy,
00:44:20.280
and I believe we will win, and we are here to support our country, our people, our military,
00:44:26.120
our president, and everybody right now in Ukraine who suffer from Russian aggression,
00:44:37.240
For us, it's very, very important because we, so we, my wife and I, we're Russian citizens,
00:44:41.480
and we're against this war, and we're standing with Ukraine today.
00:44:45.080
We're very nervous for our families. They live in Odessa, which is occupied by Russian warriors now.
00:44:53.720
And what's your message to Putin if anyone from Russia is watching us?
00:45:02.840
Exactly. Stop Russian oil, stop Russian Swift, stop Russian media, stop Russian product, everything.
00:45:14.280
Do you think Canada should stop importing Russian oil into the country?
00:45:17.560
Uh, they wish, they should, like, like, absolute embargo. No, um, like, like, do not buy gas or oil
00:45:25.480
from Russia. That's just, that's just, just, just a no-no. Any products. I very much supported that they
00:45:33.320
Yeah, for sure. I, I'm totally supporting this because I think, uh, you know, it's the biggest
00:45:39.080
income of Russian Federation from oil and gas. So I think we should stop it. And, uh, yeah, of course,
00:45:45.400
uh, people will need to make sacrifices. It will affect everybody. But, you know,
00:45:50.680
you know, we are standing for freedom of the world right now. And, uh, Ukrainian people fighting,
00:45:57.240
uh, um, outgunned, outmanned. And we are fiercely defending our country, our major cities. And, uh,
00:46:06.200
right now we are, uh, we are only ones who are battling the, uh, this Nazi regime in Russia.
00:46:13.400
I feel that there should be, that more can be done. Uh, but, um, one thing that Ukraine needs,
00:46:22.040
needs the most is, of course, just help in terms of lethal weapons. I mean, more of that,
00:46:25.800
you know, uh, and honestly, I also feel that, uh, Canada should not forget about Russian people.
00:46:31.640
This is not our, this is not our war. And I hope, I hope that one day Canada will also support
00:46:37.160
Russian people who will be immigrating like crazy from their country because of this, because they did not
00:46:42.600
choose this war because they did not ever elect Putin. Do you think Canada should stop importing all
00:46:47.080
Russian oil into the country? Uh, yes, I think yes. Putin's support is about one third. So it's a
00:46:55.000
significant, it's a significant minority, right? I mean, I mean, it's still a lot of people, but so
00:46:59.400
most people actually, actually not supporting him. Uh, it's just that because we're living under
00:47:04.920
dictatorship, people are oppressed, people are afraid to talk, people are preferred to stay,
00:47:09.640
stay away. But we have to understand that there's strong movement and democratic movement in Russia
00:47:14.440
and Russians like very, very much need the need support of Canada. And what's your message to
00:47:19.640
Ukrainians who might be watching this? Stop the war and hang in there. What's your message to other
00:47:26.680
Russians like you who are afraid to speak out? What's your message to them? Uh, I think, I think that at
00:47:31.400
this point in Russia, the most important thing is not to be, not to be afraid to talk, to talk,
00:47:37.080
to speak. You don't even have to walk on the street in order to make, to make, to make a statement.
00:47:42.680
These days in Russia, even if you post on social media, a simple phrase, no war, that makes a lot
00:47:48.760
of difference. We're seeing a massive movement in that regard. Any small action, do not disregard it.
00:47:55.000
You know, small action can lead to big changes. Russians don't believe it, but it's certainly true.
00:47:59.720
And I think Ukrainians are showing that very much.
00:48:13.320
You know, implement our powers that always tä fit into the world.
00:48:21.000
You know, and we provide it to those people, our plans that everybody wants you together.
00:48:27.000
You have confidence in more than any other things. You have confidence in God.
00:48:33.300
I believe God, and even if you step to step on the world, then I learn to bless you up to stay.